Typewriting machine



July 15 1924.

A.A.JOHNSON TYPEWRITING MACHINE Filed July 6, 1921 2 Shee&s-Sheot 2 hvmfor:

I vented certain Patented July 15, 1924.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ARTHUR A. JOHNSON, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, ASSIGNOB- TO UNI) WOOD 'TYPEWBITEB COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF DELA- WARE.

TYPEWBITING MACHINE.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ARTHUR A. JoHNsoN, a citizen of the United States, residing in Washington, District of Columbia, have innew and useful Improvements in Typewriting Machines, of'which the following is a s ification.

This invention re ates to typewriting machines of the class shown in the patent to Wernery and Smith, No. 1,132,055, dated March 16, 1915, in which a longitudinally folded web is led around arevoluble platen of a typewriting machine, the latter having provisions for carrying carbons between the plies of the web and for shifting the carbons back to fresh portions of the web as the typing proceeds, the web usually com rising a section of printed forms, each of W ich is drawn off as soon as typed. Usuallg, the backward shifting of the carbons is e ected by means of a carbon-carrier shiftable forwardly and rearwardly on a rearward extension of the typewriter-carriage.

Fan-fold webs and the like are printed in a variety of ways, some having forms of one length and some of another, some havin more plies than others, etc. It is a desi eratuni to be able to type difi'erent fanfold webs upon the same machine, and for this purpose it has been the practice to make the carbon-carrier demountable, so that a carbon carrier having one unit or set of webs and carbons therein, may be taken oil from the machine and replaced by another carbon-carrier having a ditferent unit, i. e., a different set of webs and carbons therein. Thus the same machine can be used conveniently for different kinds of work in alternation, as set forth in Patent No. 1,358,033.

One of the objects sought by the present invention is to avoid the necessity of removin the carbon-carrier and work-unit from t e machine and substituting another carrier and work-unit therefor. To this end, two fan-fold webs are carried in en erposed relation separately on the typewr tercarriage at the same time, each with its own interleaved carbons forming a separate work-unit, and provision is made whereby either unit or fan-fold Web may be silenced while typing is done upon the other unit. That is, either web or pack of sheets may be used exclusively of the other web or pack. Thus one web or pack moves idly with the typewriter-carria e at the letterfeedm movements thereo while the other pack. is being typed line by line. It is only necessary to withdraw one of the fanfold webs, with itsinterleaved carbons, i. e., one of the units, from the revoluble platen and its feed-rolls, and stow it in a rearward osition, and to draw forward the other an-fold web or unit and insert it around the platen to be typed. The first unit is stowed so that it partakes idly of some of the movements of the machine (as, for example, the letter-feeding movements of the carriage), but does not become typed. In other words, the machine carries idly one unit (or set of plies with interleaved carbons), and also carries activel another unit or set of work-plies and car ons; and the unit which is in use may at any time be withdrawn and stowed away, and the other unit brought forward to be typed. When the upper web or unit is to be typed, the lower web or unit is first withdrawn from the platen and folded back or otherwise stowed out of the way at the back of the typewriter-carriage, while remaining connected thereto to travel therewith, but not in position to foul with the upper ack, or the devices associated therewith. en the up er pack may be carried around the platen an typed regardless of the lower pack, which simply travels idly to and fro with the typewriter-carriage. When the bottom pack is to be typed, the top pack is first withdrawn the rear where it may remain idly connected to the typewriter-carriage, but does not take part in the typing, and the bottom pack is agialin introduced around the platen, The mac no is also capable of typin simultaneously upon both fan-fold we since they may be inserted together around the platen together with their respective interleaved carbons.

For these and other purposes, use may be made of a plurality of carbon-carriers in superposed relation. The carbon-carriers may be connected to form a carrier unit, or may be disconnected and rendered independently shiftable, so that both may be shifted as a machine unit, or either one may be shifted singly, as desired. In this form, of the invention, there are presented novel,

from the platen and retired to features of construction, which are preferably so formed and mounted that they may be easily applied to or removed from existing machines of the above-mentioned In the embodiment of the invention herein disclosed, provision is made of a track-memher to support an upper carbon-carrier, and this member is provided with downwardlyextending legs adapted to cooperate with certain parts of the rearward extension of the carriage Which supports a lower carboncarrier, so that, when set thereon, horizontal movement of the track-member with reference to the extensionv will be prevented. Provision is also made of means to latch the track-member in position on the extension.

The carbon-carriers are provided with forwardly-extending arms to enable independent shifting of the two carriers, fingerpieces at the forward ends of said arms ly ing in close proximity when the carriers are in rearward limiting positions. This positioning of the finger-pieces facilitates movement of the two carriers concomitantly, but, when only one of the carriers is to be used, the operator, in shifting one of the fingerpieces, may unintentionally engage and shift the other. To avoid this result, each finger-piece is supported on the correspond ing arm, so that it may readily be shifted. from its normal position thereon to an abnormal position when not in use. Suit-able stops may be provided to limit the movement of the carriers.

In order to insure simultaneous movement of the carbon-carriers when desired, provision may be made of a latch-member shiftable to an ineffective position or to an effective position to secure the carbon-carriers together to move in unison, and of a springdetent to maintain the latch-member in either of such positions. \Vhen the carboncarriers are so connected, either one of the finger-pieces may be utilized in shifting them, and the other is preferably shifted to its abnormal position.

According to one use of the invention, webs carrying one kind of forms may be used with one carbon-carrier, and webs carrying another kind of forms with the other carbon-carrier, thereby rendering it comparatively easy to change from one kind of Work to the other. In case the forms on the different webs are of different lengths, the carbon-carrierstops may be set in accordance with the requirements. If desired. the upper track may be removed when the carbon-carrier thereon is not in use.

According to another use of the invention, the forms on both sets of webs may be the same, and either one or both of the carriers may be used, in accordance with the number of carbon-copies desired. When both carbon-carriers are used, it is desirable to connect them so that they will move in unison.

It will be evident that, due to the manner of securing the upper carbon-carrier-track to the rearward extension of the carriage, the upper track may be removed, if desired, to facilitate the passing of a new set of webs through the lower carbon-carrier. This construction also permits of having a pluralit of such removable tracks for use with di ferent sets of forms, so that, to change from one kind of forms to another, the only step necessary is to remove the effectively positioned upper track from the rearward extension and replace it by another carrying webs having thereon forms of the kind to be used.-

It will be evident that the invention may readily be applied to an Underwood type- Writing machine of the usual fan-fold type.

Other features and advantages will hereinafter appear.

In the accompanying drawings,

Figure 1 is a side elevation, partly in section, showing the invention applied to so much of an Underwood typewriting machine of the fan-fold type as is necessary for the purpose of illustration.

Figure 2 is a fragmentary perspective view, showing the construction enabling the movable track-member to be set in proper position on a rearward extension of the carriage and latched in position.

Figure 3 is a front elevation, showing the carbon-carriers.

Figure 4 is a fragmentary side view, illustrating the manner in which the carboncarriers may be connected for movement in unison.

A platen 10 is supported on an axle 11, journaled in the ends 12 of a lifting frame 13 which includes a front paper-table l4 and a knife 15. The ends 12 of the lifting frame are pivotally mounted on a rod 16 extending.

transversely of the typewriter-carriage 17, the ends 12 of the lifting frame being provided with arms 18, which. when the platen is in its normal position, will rest on a rod l8 supported by the carriage. The platen in its normal position co-operates with a rear paper table l9 and rear and front feedrolls :20 and 2l, respectively, in feeding work around the platen to enable typing to be effected thereon by means of types 22 carried by type-bars 23.

Connected with the typewriter-carriage 17 is a rearward extension 24 comprising front and rear rods 25 and 26 respectively connected by rods 27 on which are secured rails A carbon-carrier 29 comprises grooved rollers 80 to cooperate with rails 25 and a base-plate 31, on which are mounted stepped blocks 32 carrying blades 33, to which carhon-sheets may be attached, and an arm 3e extending toward the front of the machine, so as to be easily accessible to the operator. For convenience, a finger-piece is provided by bending the forward portion 36 of the arm 34 substantially at right angles. The movement of the carriage may be limited by suitable means, suc as stops 37, mounted on the rails 28. The mechanism just described is in general similar to that disclosed in the patent to Wernery and Smith, No. 1,132,055.

When it is desired to use the mechanism just described, the platen 10 is thrown up by means of the lifting frame 13 and webs 38, which may be se arate webs or separate plies of a fan-fol web, are passed over a transverse guide-rod 39 at the rear of the extension 24 and passed through the carbon carrier, so that carbons or carbon-sheets 40, secured to the blades 33, will be interleaved therebetween. The webs 38 are then drawn over the upper edge of the rear paper-table 41, under the platen in its raised position, and above the knife 15. The platen may then be returned to its normal position, indicated in Figure 1, and typing may be effected on a set of superposed forms with which the Webs are usually provided.

The carbon-carrier 29 will be advanced with the webs 38 and carbon-sheets when the latter are fed around the platen, as a result of the line-spacing action in typing different lines on the portions of the webs brought to the printing line. \Vhen the typing on a set of forms has been completed, the lifting frame 13 is thrown forward and the ends of the webs 38, which have been held against the front papertable 14 during the lifting of the platen, are grasped and drawn forward to gage the same in the usual manner. The carbon-carrier 29 may then be moved rearwardly by means of the finger-piece 35 to draw the carbon-sheets 40 from the used portions of the webs, and, after returning the platen 10 to its normal position, the used portions of the webs 38 may be severed by drawin the webs across the edge of the knife 15. yping upon another set of forms may then be efl'ected.

In carrying out the present invention, use is made of a second carbon-carrier 42 comprising a base-plate 43 carrying grooved rollers 44 to co-operate with rails 45 to guide the carbon-carrier in its forward and rearward movements. Mounted on the carboncarrier 42 are stepped blocks 46, blades 47 and a forwardly-extending arm 48. The rails 45 rest on rods 49 connecting the transverse rods 50 and 51 to form a frame 51 similar to that of extension 24. Movement of the carbon-carrier may be limited by any suitable means, such as stops 52, mounted on rails 45.

In order that the carbon-carrier 42 may be supported at a suitable distance above the carrier 29, so as not to interfere therewith, or with the webs 38, provision is made of front legs 52 and rear legs 53, preferably formed of sheet-metal. The front legs 52 have, at their upper ends, bent-up portions or lugs 54 which are secured to the rod 50 by any suitable means, such as screws 55, and, at their lower ends, with bent-up portions or lugs 56 having perforations 57 adapted to receive projections 58, which ma be the heads of screws 59, securing the rai s 28 to the rod 25. The rear legs 53 are provided at their upper ends with bentup portions or lugs 60 fastened to rod 51 in any suitable manner, as by screws 61, and at their lower ends with recesses 62 adapted to fit over the guide-rod 39.

For the purpose of fastening the upper frame to the extension 24, provision may be made of hooks 63 pivoted at 64 on the front legs 52, so that they may be swung into engagement with the rod 25, or withdrawn therefrom, by means of finger-pieces 65 projecting laterally from the hooks. Similarly, the rear legs 53 are provided with hooks 66 pivoted at 67 thereon and provided with finger-pieces 68 to facilitate movement of the same into and out of engagement with the rod 39.

When the upper frame is in position on the rearward extension 24, webs 69, which may be separate webs or plies of a fan-fold web, may be led, over a rear guide-roll 70, through the carbon-carrier 42, so that carbon-sheets 71, secured to the blades 47, will be interleaved therebetween, and over a front guide-rod 72. The webs 69 may then be passed under the platen 10 in raised position and over the knife 15, so that, upon res toration of the platen 10 to normal posi tion, the webs 69 and carbon-sheets 71 will be in position to receive typing at the printing line.

Obviously, the webs or plies of both sets 38 and 69 may be used to receive typing at the same time or either one of the sets may be used separately. When only one of the sets of webs, and, therefore, the carbon-carrier is to be used, it is desirable to move out of the way the finger-piece corresponding to the carbon-carrier not in use. To that end, the forward portion 36 of the arm 34 is pivoted at 73 upon the arm 34 proper, and is provided with a lug 74 to engage the lower edge of the arm 34 when the forward portion 36 is in its effective position, as shown in Figure 4, and to engage the upper edge of arm 34 when the portion 36 is swung to the rear about its pivot 73. In the same manner, a fingerpiece 75, formed at the end of the forward portion 76 of the operating arm 48 of the upper carbon-carrier, is pivoted at 77 on the arm 48, and is provided with a lug 78 to engage the lower edge of arm 48 when the finger-piece 7 5 is in its normal position, and to engage the upper edge of arm 48 when the finger-piece is swung to the rearward position as shown in Figure 1.-

When the upper carbon-carrier 42 is not in use, it may be positioned as shown in Figure 1, the finger-piece 75 being turned to its rearward position and the portions of the webs 69 and the carbon-sheets 71 be ing bent backwards at the guide-rod 72, so as not to interfere with the webs 38 or the lifting frame 13. In case the upper webs 69 are to be used and not the webs 38, the lower carbon-carrier 29 may be placed in a convenient position and the webs 38 with the interleaved carbons 4O bent backward above the rod 25 and allowed to.

remain in such a position corresponding to the position shown in connection with webs 69. It will be evident that, according to the present invention, either set of webs may be used at will, and both sets may be used as desired.

lVhen both carbon-carriers 29 and 42 are to be used together, they may be shifted in unison by means of their finger-pieces 35 and 75. It will be more convenient and satisfactory, however, to fasten the two carriers together to insure movement in unison. To this end, provision may be made of a slide 79 having a finger-piece 80 extending therefrom at its lower end, the slide 79 being supported on the arm 34 of the lower carbon-carrier by means of pins 81 fixed in arm 34 and extending through slots 82 in said slide, the pins 81 having enlarged heads, so as to maintain said slide 79 on said pins. At its upper end the slide 79 is rovided with an open-ended slot 83, which, when the slide 79 is raised to its upper position, will receive a pin 84 secured to the arm 48 of the upper carboncarrier, the position of the slide 79 and of the pin 84 being such that the two will co-operate only when the two carriers are in the same positions on their frames. In order to retain the slide in set position, provision may be made of a spring 85 secured at its lower end to the arm 34 and having at its upper end a pin 86, having a tapered end to cooperate with lower and upper openings 87 and 88, respectively, and thereby hold the slide 79 in either ineffective or effective positions. When the carboncarriers are fastened together in this way, elther finger-piece 35 or 75 may be used, the other being preferably swung rearwardly to ineffective osition.

It will be seen at Figure 4 that for feeding separate packs of work-sheets permanently interleaved with carbons alternately around the platen, a carbon'oarrier unit is provided which comprises a plurality of carbon-holding frames 29, 42 connected by the yoke 79, each of said carbon-holding frames being in turn provided with a plurality of carbon-holding blades, the carbonholding frames being superposed, so as to permit the packs to remain interleaved with their respective carbons and artially threaded into the machine while either pack is being typed upon without the necessity of removing the other pack from the typewriter-carriage or even from the carboncarrier. By the use of this device, both packs ma be typed as one unit when dosirable. f it is not desired to operate both frames when typing only one ack, then the connection 79 may be cast 0 Preferably, the stops 37 and 52 are adjustable along the rails 28 and 45, and, as shown.

in Figure 1, the rear stops on the upper track are ad'usted to correspond with comparatively s ort forms on webs 69. The stops 37 and 52 may be secured in adjusted positions by any suitable means, such as set-screws, not shown.

Variations may be resorted to within the scope of the invention, and portions of the improvements may be used without others.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. In a t pewriting machine adapted for continuous billing, in combination, a platen, a platen-carriage having a rearward extension, and a plurality of superposed carbon-carrier tracks on said extension.

2. In a typewriting machine adapted for continuous billing, in combination, a platen, a platen-carriage having a rearward extension, and a plurality of superposed carbon-carriers on said extension, independently movable toward and from the platen.

3. In a typewriting machine adapted for continuous billing, in combination, a platen, a platen carriage having a rearward extension, and a plurality of superposed oarbon-carriers on said extension, each carrier having a forwardly-extending operating arm provided with a finger-piece shiftable with respect to the rest of the arm, so that when not in use it may be shifted from its normal position to avoid interference with the other operating arms.

4. In a typewriting machine adapted for continuous billing, in combination, a platen, a platen-carriage having a rearward extension, a plurality of carbon-carriers shiftable on said extension, and means whereb the carbon-carriers may be connected with each other so as to move in unison.

5. In a t pewriting machine adapted for continuous illing, in combination, a platen, a platen-carriage having a rearward extension, a plurality of carbon-carriers shiftably mounted on. said extension, and handles for said carbon-carriers movable in adja cent paths, each handle having a fingerpiece shiftable with respect to the mat of Ill Ill

the handle, so that it may be shifted from its normal position to avoid interference with the operation of the other handles.

6. In a typewriting machine adapted for continuous billing, in combination, a platen, a platen-carriage having a rearwardj extension, a carbon-carrier track on said extension, and a removable carbon-carrier track having legs shaped to fit corresponding parts of the extension and to malntain the proper spacing between said tracks.

7. In a typewriting machine adapted for continuous billing, in combination, a platen, a platen-carriage having a rearward extension, a carbon-carrier track on said extension, and a removable carbon-carrier track spaced above said first-mentioned track and having pin-and-recess connections with the extension to prevent relative horizontal movement.

8. In a typewriting machine adapted for continuous billing, in combination, a platen, a platen-carriage having a rearward extension, a carbon-carrier track on said extension, a removable carbon-carrier track spaced above said first-mentioned track and having pin-and-recess connections with the extension to prevent relative horizontal movement, and latching means to hold said removable carbon-carrier track on said extension.

9. In a typewriting machine adapted for continuous billing, in combination, a platen, a platen-carriage having a rearward extension comprising a carbon-carrier track, a transverse rod at the rear of the extension, and vertically projecting pins at the front of said extension, and a removable carbon-carrier track having members for spacing it above the lower track, said members having pin-and-reeess connections with the extension at its front and recesses fitting over the rod at the rear.

10. In a typewriting machine adapted for continuous billing, in combination, a platen, a platen-carriage having a rearward extension comprising a carbon-carrier track, a transverse rod at the rear of the extension, and vertically projecting pins at the front of said extension, a removable carbon-carrier track having members for spacing it above the lower track, said members having pin-and-recess connections with the extension at its front and recesses fitting over the rod at the rear, and latching devices to hold said removable carbon-carrier track in position on said extension.

11. In a typewriting machine adapted for continuous billing, in combination, a platen, a platen-carriage having a rearward extension, a plurality of superposed tracks on said extension, a carbon-carrier on each of said tracks, and means to secure said carriers together for simultaneous movement.

12. In a typewriting machine adapted for continuous billing, in combination, a platen, a platen-carriage having a rearward extension, two superposed tracks on said extension, a carbon-carrier on each track, a vertically slidable member on one of said carriers, and means on the other carrier to enable said slidable member to lock said carriers together.

13. In a typewriting machine adapted for continuous billing, in combination, a platen, a platen-carriage having a rearward extension,- two superposed tracks on said extension, a carbon-carrier on each track, a vertically slidable member on one of said carriers, means on the other carrier to enable said slidable member to lock said can riers together, and spring-detent means to maintain said slidable member in either effective or inefiective position.

14. In a typewriting machine adapted for continuous billing, in combination, a platen, a platen-carriage having a rearward extension, two superposed tracks on said extension, a carbon-carrier on each track, a vertically movable slide on one of said carbon-carriers having a slot in one of its ends, and a pin on the other of said carriers to enter said slot when the slide is moved to effective position.

15. In a typewriting machine adapted for continuous billing, in combination, a platen, a platen-carriage having a rearward extension, two superposed tracks on said extension, a carbon-carrier on each track, a vertically movable slide on one of said oarbon-carriers having a slot in one of its ends, a pin on the other of said carriers to enter said slot when the slide is moved to efiective position, and a yieldable detent device permitting manual movement of said slide L but effective to retain said slide against ac.- oidental movement.

16. In a typewriting machine having a laten, the combination with a letter-feed= 1ng carriage,- of separate means upon the carriage for holding separate sets or can bons in permanent interleaved relationship with separate packs of work-sheets or ranfold websin a manner to form separately manipulable composite superpose units, each unit composed of work-sheets and carbons, and to permit either unit to be brought separately to or from typing position, to permit either unit to travel idlywith said carriage while the other unit is bein ARTHUR a. Jonifscn.

Witnesses:

EDITH B. Lmsnr, JENNIT. P. Tnoiann. 

